working behind closed doors to avoid the so- called fiscal cliff. >> need progress today, sir? >> reporter: he and harry reid are working on scaled-down agreement that focuses on avoiding a middle-class tax hike. the plan is to present it to the full senate for a vote on sunday and send it to the house and hoax john boehner was at the capitol and left with no comment. both sides remain at odds over the democrat's insistence that the wealthy pay more in taxes. >> the president's tax hook would only fund the government for eight days. americans deserve to know what is the president -- what does the president propose we do for the other 357 days of the year. >> reporter: president obama insists his plan on the table is fair and includes plenty of cuts to government spending. >> we just can't afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. >> reporter: if sunday's negotiations don't pan out, the president said he's ready to propose his own scaled-back bill that would block tax increases for all but the wealthy. and preserve expiring unemployment benefits. with the deficit